The Global Coal Project Finance Tracker (GCPFT) covers all coal-fired power projects for which financing information is publicly available, from 2010 until the present. The data is structured around the Global Coal Plant Tracker, and it includes both operating and proposed coal plants. Power plants for which financing information is not available are not shown on the map.
Data sources for the GCPFT include the Friends of the Earth report “ECA Support For Coal in the Face of OECD Financing Restrictions”; the NRDC Consolidated Coal Finance Database and websites for the financial institutions included in this report; sources listed for coal projects on GEM.wiki; IJGlobal; Oil Change International’s Shift the Subsidies Database; the Boston University Global Economic Governance Initiative on China’s Global Energy Finance, and media coverage of financial deals for coal-fired power stations. Additional information was provided through Solutions For Our Climate (SFOC), Market Forces, and the Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES).
The data is divided by financing status, which can either be “closed” or “ongoing.” Financing closed means that both a financing agreement was signed and that the funds are available for withdrawal. Note that the signing of an agreement alone does not necessarily mean a financing deal is closed. We use the beginning of construction on a power station as a proxy when information on a financial close date is unavailable. The data does not contain comprehensive coverage of proposed financing deals that were subsequently cancelled.
The data can be filtered by the type of institution providing the funding:
- Governmental policy institutions include both government bodies, such as government ministries or departments, as well as government-owned institutions with explicit policy objectives, such as multilateral development banks (MDBs) and export credit and insurance agencies (ECAs).
- Government-owned commercial institutions include institutions that are majority (50%+) owned by a government body, but that operate as commercial business entities. These institutions are commonly called state-owned enterprises, and can either be financial institutions, such as government-owned banks, or business-oriented institutions, such as infrastructure or utility companies. They are differentiated by governmental policy institutions because their main objective is profit maximization rather than other policy objectives, although these institutions may operate with policy objectives as well.
- Privately-owned commercial institutions include institutions owned by large institutional shareholders, through publicly issued stocks, or through other corporate methods. They are not majority government-owned.